While engaging with young people through gifs, hashtags and Boomerangs via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram is undoubtedly successful, it’s not retainable. Standing out among the throng of companies vying for the interest of young jobseekers is made more difficult when there is a new trend almost daily.
Instead of only focusing on the #throwbackthursday of the week, couple social media trends like this with other content that consistently reiterates your company values and remember that the key thing about school leavers, students, or recent graduates is that they are always keen to learn. With this in mind, there are multiple ways you can engage with the student and graduate market, while keeping your brand in clear sight.
Teach personal branding
The “elevator pitch” concept is a great way to teach students and graduates self-awareness. This pitch is a short summary of an individual’s personal brand, encompassing their unique selling point, past experience, and why a particular role appeals to them.
Sharing knowledge like this with potential candidates is engaging with them in a way that is less explicit in its marketing aims. Making potential or current candidates aware of the power of personal branding will aid them in articulating their skills in an interview situation. You could do this via website content or a workshop or similar event.
At Milkround, we host workshops that teach career skills, including the elevator pitch, to encourage candidates to not only be self-aware, but to articulate this in a clear, concise way.
Make role models visible
As wonderful as social media can be, we are becoming increasingly aware that platforms such as Instagram create a digital façade of perfection. From a recruitment perspective, using social media to raise brand awareness does not always have to abide by this rule.
Mentoring is a fantastic way to foster new graduate talent after they’ve joined your business, but this kind of engagement can begin long before the recruitment process. An online platform is the simplest way to offer insight into the people in your company. Enabling a diverse range of employees to openly talk about the challenges of their careers means the reality, as well as the benefits, of working life is communicated. Young people will value this way of sharing because it is refreshingly honest.
This kind of sharing is valuable to young people with little working experience, as these online role models are not merely idolised, but also approachable. This will mean maximum online engagement both prior to and during your recruitment process.
Offer real insight
Insights into your company, such as ‘day-in-the-life’ content showing different sides to your business, helps students and graduates to picture what it’s really like to work there.
Video content can provide information in a short space of time and in a way that is honest and approachable. Video doesn’t have to look perfectly professional, so don’t assume your expenditure has to be high. You can use your phone for a low-maintenance, simplistic feel and capture the office as it really is.
You could host live Q&As or use your phone to create a virtual tour of your office space. This kind of content accompanies skill teaching and role model engagement well by showing openness.
Overall, be creative in your approach. Use social media channels to reach young people, but in a way that is unique to your company culture and values. Marketing your business to potential candidates doesn’t need to be a flawless fanfare when so much of students’ social media experience is exactly that.
Pavan